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daralexandria's review
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse
Moderate: Confinement, Death, and War
Minor: Animal death and Antisemitism
readaloud_mom's review
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Ehh, I was tempted into picking this up because of the "women's history" angle. I did end up hate-reading the whole thing. I couldn't connect well with most of the characters, and the plotting/pacing really did. not. work. for me.
In the first chapter, our entitled, condescending-as-hell wealthy Yankee POV character Eliza is having a garden party and looking forward to traveling to St. Petersburg with her wealthy Russian friend Sofya. Then, right in the middle of the party, Sofya goes into labor two months early! and Eliza has a sinking feeling that maybe she won't ever see St. Petersburg. Chapter ends on that cliffhanger, and...
Next chapter is months later, we've hopped to Sofya's POV, and we learn that Sofya's fine, the baby's totally fine, and Eliza did make it to St. Petersburg after all! Yay? This is basically what happens with every other cliffhanger in the entire book, except sometimes you need to wade through 2 or 3 chapters from other POVs before you can find out whatever anticlimactic thing has happened.
As if that wasn't bad enough, the last POV character that we meet is an Oppressed Peasant Girl trapped in a messed-up relationship with an Abusive Peasant Man. (The afterward talks about how Eliza and Sofya are based off of actual letters and journals and stuff, but Varinka is totally imagined by the author, no surprise there.) The book coyly refers to Abusive Peasant Man by titles like her "guardian" for THE ENTIRE DAMN BOOK, until the last chapter we get from her POV when she's FINALLY getting away from him and - plot twist! - the text finally admits that he's totally her half-brother. (...for the record, I was like, "he's either got syphilis or this is some kind of incest thing" from about Round II of messed-up abusive shit back in the beginning of the book, and had come down on "yeah, probably incest" a looooong time before The Plot Twist Was Revealed.) But it's not like Oppressed Peasant Girl didn't KNOW he was her brother the whole time (in case you can't tell, I pretty much hate "plot twists" that rely on hiding stuff from the reader like this).
One thing that did kinda amuse me was the gender-flip of the historical fiction thing where Men Get Action Scenes and Women Show Up to Be Sexy Rewards/Sexy Fridged Plot Points. In this book the women... well, got a lot of angsting scenes and some action scenes, while the men pretty much were there to be fridged and/or be sexy rewards. Though if the men had been more rounded characters, I probably would have cared more when they did get fridged.
Also, HOW DID SOMEONE WITH THE LAST NAME OF "KELLY" DO SUCH A STEREOTYPICAL JOB OF WRITING THE IRISH MAID? HOW?!
Next chapter is months later, we've hopped to Sofya's POV, and we learn that Sofya's fine, the baby's totally fine, and Eliza did make it to St. Petersburg after all! Yay? This is basically what happens with every other cliffhanger in the entire book, except sometimes you need to wade through 2 or 3 chapters from other POVs before you can find out whatever anticlimactic thing has happened.
As if that wasn't bad enough, the last POV character that we meet is an Oppressed Peasant Girl trapped in a messed-up relationship with an Abusive Peasant Man. (The afterward talks about how Eliza and Sofya are based off of actual letters and journals and stuff, but Varinka is totally imagined by the author, no surprise there.) The book coyly refers to Abusive Peasant Man by titles like her "guardian" for THE ENTIRE DAMN BOOK, until the last chapter we get from her POV when she's FINALLY getting away from him and - plot twist! - the text finally admits that he's totally her half-brother. (...for the record, I was like, "he's either got syphilis or this is some kind of incest thing" from about Round II of messed-up abusive shit back in the beginning of the book, and had come down on "yeah, probably incest" a looooong time before The Plot Twist Was Revealed.) But it's not like Oppressed Peasant Girl didn't KNOW he was her brother the whole time (in case you can't tell, I pretty much hate "plot twists" that rely on hiding stuff from the reader like this).
One thing that did kinda amuse me was the gender-flip of the historical fiction thing where Men Get Action Scenes and Women Show Up to Be Sexy Rewards/Sexy Fridged Plot Points. In this book the women... well, got a lot of angsting scenes and some action scenes, while the men pretty much were there to be fridged and/or be sexy rewards. Though if the men had been more rounded characters, I probably would have cared more when they did get fridged.
Also, HOW DID SOMEONE WITH THE LAST NAME OF "KELLY" DO SUCH A STEREOTYPICAL JOB OF WRITING THE IRISH MAID? HOW?!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Violence, and Death of parent
Moderate: Confinement, Incest, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Murder, and Cultural appropriation
Minor: Antisemitism and Pregnancy
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